Filming locations in Montana

Visiting Montana: a set-jetting guide. Big-sky ranch country in the Bitterroot Valley, beneath the Rockies, is home to the real spread that plays the embattled ranch of a cattle dynasty in Yellowstone. The Chief Joseph Ranch, a historic log-and-stone property, is the Duttons' Yellowstone home, and the valley around it is exactly the wide, wild, hard-won landscape the series is built on, a world away from any city.

The single location here is the Chief Joseph Ranch itself, set against the mountains near Darby. It is important to know what it is before you go: a working guest ranch and a private home, not a drop-in attraction. You cannot simply turn up and wander in, the way to experience it from up close is to admire it from the highway, where the main lodge and its setting are clearly in view.

There is, however, one way to go further. The ranch rents out its cabins to guests in the off-season, the same log buildings that appear in the show, so staying the night is possible for those who plan well ahead. Demand is high and the windows are limited, so book far in advance if a night on the Dutton ranch is the trip you are after, rather than counting on availability close to the date.

Whether you stay or simply pass through, the surrounding drive is the real reward. The Bitterroot Valley unfurls spectacularly beneath the Rockies, and the nearby towns of Darby and Hamilton are the practical stops for food and a bed if the ranch cabins are beyond reach. Treat the whole valley as the destination and the ranch as its centrepiece, and the wide, untamed Montana of the series is yours to drive through.